William gobmak



NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM GORMAN, OF NEYV YORK, N. X.

PADDLE-WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 24,627, dated July 5, 1859.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, lV. GORMAN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Paddle- Vllheel; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a side sectional View of myV invention fr, F 2, indicating the plane of section. Fig. 2, an end sectional View of ditto.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

The object of this invention to avoid the loss of power attending the lift as it is ordinarily termed which is caused by the action of the paddles as they leave or pass out of the water.

The invention consists in having the paddles placed in or attached to sliding frames which are fitted between suitable guides, and arranged substantially as hereinafter shown, whereby the desired object is attained by a very simple means and without any appreciable loss of consumption of power by friction.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents the shaft of the wheel and B, B, are two heads or bosses secured on said shaft and having radial arms O, attached, any proper number of arms being used. The heads or .bosses B, B, are secured on the shaft A, at a suitable distance apart equal of course to the desired width of the wheel, and the outer parts of the arms C, that are opposite each other are connected by traverse bars a, said bars being at each side of the arms and of tri-lateral form as shown clearly in F ig. l.

Between each pair of arms O, the paddles or floats D, are placed. These paddles or floats areA attached to bars l), the inner ends of which are connected by traverse bars c. The paddles or floats D, are allowed to slide freely between the bars a, and the traverse bars c, are connected by springs CZ, to rods e, which are attached to the heads or bosses B, B.

F, F, are circular and concentric rims or plates attached to each side of the wheel.

To the outer side of one head or boss B, a spring catch F, is attached. These catches are clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The operation of the wheel is as follows: As the wheel rotates the paddles or floats D, slide between the traverse bars a. The gravity of the paddles or floats cause them as they pass underneath the shaft A, and reach a vertical plane to drop and register with the bars a, the weight of t-he paddles or floats D, bars Z), Z), and traverse bars c, overbalancing the strength of the springs (Z. Vhen the paddles or floats D, register with the bars a, it will be seen that but little resistance is offered to them as they pass out of the water, in fact the paddles or floats are covered by the bars a, and as these are of tri-lateral form with an angle at their front they cut through the water so that the latter does not offer any appreciable resistance to them. As the buckets pass upward and approach a vertical position they fall by their own gravity assisted by the springs CZ, and the catches F, hook over the ends of rods f, that connect the traverse bars c, at one end. Thecatches prevent the paddles or floats from falling and opening before they reach a vertical plane, the catches F, being actuated to release the bars c, and consequently the paddles or floats at the proper time by means of a stationary cam G, attached to the framing' joint below the shaft A, and within the plane of rotation of the catches F. The springs cl, cause the paddles to operate smoothly or without any concussion and the rims or plates E, E, which control the length of the downward movement of the bars c, and consequently of the paddles or floats may at the points where the bars c, strike them be covered with india rubber or other suitable substance e, also to avoid concussion. The edges of the heads or bosses B, B, at the points where the bars c, strike when the paddles or floats close may also have the same substance g, attached for a similar purpose, see Fig. l.

From the above description it will be seen that a very simple means is obtained for the desired end, and but little friction is created by the working of parts. The difficulty attending the working of paddle wheels that have been hitherto constructed to effect the object herein described has been the complexity of the arrangement the great friction attending the Working of the parts and their liability to get out of repair.

Having thus described my invention what 5 I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is7

The sliding paddles or floats D, placed between the traverse bars a, of the arms C, C, of the Wheel and arranged with the catches F, and stationary cam G, or their 10 equivalents to operate as and for the purpose set forth.

l WILLIAM GORMAN. Vitnesses:

M. M. LIVINGSTON, MICH. HUGHES. 

